What makes us human? Cracking the genetic code.

Gene expression is a term used to describe the appearance in a phenotype of a characteristic or effect attributed to a particular gene. A phenotype is the composite of an organism’s observable characteristics or traits. Allen Institute researchers have begun to unravel the genetic code underlying the human brain’s function. Here researchers identify a surprisingly small set of molecular patterns that dominate gene expression in the human brain and appear to be common to all individuals, providing key insights into the core of the genetic code that makes our brains distinctly human.